Jordan Times
Monday, September 11, 2006
Jordan, Egypt urge
immediate return to peace talks
King says war with Iran would open Pandora’s box, holds talks with Malaysian monarch
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday urged
an immediate return to peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
During their talks in Amman, the King and Mubarak highlighted the need to revive
the peace process and resume the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, reported.
The meeting came as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas said they were ready to meet without preconditions, each speaking after talks with
British Prime Minister Tony Blair who is touring the region, Agence France-Presse reported.
King Abdullah and Mubarak said Arab countries should “adopt a common position to support
the Palestinian cause” and reiterated their support for Abbas’ “efforts to form a national
unity government that is capable of assuming its responsibilities,” according to Petra. Abbas
has been trying to form a unity government with Hamas movement.
They said that they “reject unilateral solutions, which only lead to failure”.
Olmert pledged to unilaterally redraw the borders of the Jewish state by 2010.
‘Bleak future’
In a Time magazine interview, to be published today, King Abdullah warned that if the Palestinian
issue is not solved, “the future looks pretty bleak for the Middle East”.
“If we don’t see tangible results on the ground by 2007, then I don’t think there will ever be a
Palestinian state,” the King said.
“Then I think we are doomed to another decade or decades of violence between Israelis and Arabs,
which affects everybody.”
The short-term objective is to get straight back to negotiations, he said, adding: “But we want to
jump ahead to something tangible. We need to get to the point where people want to sign on the dotted
line. We want to move to a two-state solution… we need to start building things on the ground.”
The Monarch reiterated that “it has finally dawned on Israel” that unilateral moves do not work.
“Unless we solve the core problems, terrorism in its strength will always be with us.”
The King said Jordan and other core Arab and Muslim countries were “relaunching the Arab initiative”.
“It is one major step forward in bringing peace and stability to the region.”
On the way Israel deals with Hamas, the King said: “I don’t think that Israel is looking just at having a
problem with Hamas. It is looking further afield and seeing major security challenges. There are other
regional powers that are vying for supremacy in this area. Usually when that happens the net result is
conflict and violence.”
The King, meanwhile, warned that the Middle East could not afford another war.
“And a war with Iran would open a Pandora’s box, one that I don’t think the Middle East would recover from.”
Malaysian monarch
Also yesterday, King Abdullah and Malaysian Monarch Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra held talks on regional
issues, challenges facing the Muslim world, as well as bilateral relations.
They discussed Muslim countries’ efforts to help revive the Middle East peace process and fight extremism.
Their talks also covered the situations in Iraq and Lebanon.
On bilateral ties, the two leaders said their countries were keen to boost cooperation in all fields.
The Malaysian King and Queen Fauziah Abdul Rashid arrived Sunday in Amman on a three-day official visit.
King Abdullah in October paid a visit to Malaysia, the current chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic
Conference.